That is not true. It takes no paperwork if the bike belong to the rider and one paper if it doesnt belong to the rider. And under no circumstances does this cost any money.


I saw heaps of western travellers on Vietnam plated bikes in Laos and Cambodia january/february/march 2015 so obviously this is possible.

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

Hi folks!
First: excuse me because my bad english.

So, I don´t understand why you are asking about to buy the motorcycle, when (under my point of view) the problem is another one: to cross overland Pakistán.

I didn´t find update info, and the one I have about is too unsafety, because the taliban/terrorist/kidnappings situation.

Yes, maybe I am wrong, but, please, Could someone write info about update Pakistan situation?

Thanks in advance.

Happy New Year 2016.

http://topalante.es

Read carefully! I was talking about rented bikes. To fly in your own bike into a country were renting is so cheap is a big waste of money.


Not if your coming from Laos and for the big pakistan Visa problem i skiped the country and flew into Indie and rented a bike there...

Theres no reason to read your writings carefully as it is bs from start to end. Anyhow I clearly recall you mention something about buying a buy in Vietnam. And now owning a bike all of a sudden changed to only cover rented bikes.

There is normally no problem taking a bike, rented or owned between most borders in SEAsia. Between Vietnam and Thailand however there seems clearly to be problems. Glad to see that Lonerider and Recom273 can confirm that.

But to buy and take a bike back to Europe from one of the SEAsian countries - I consider this impossible as until someone can prove it could be done.

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

Just because you dont want to read my answers carefully does not mean they are wrong
I think together we came to a prity good picture about what is possible and what is not possible or expensive. Most of the answers fit together if you dont mix up big/small/owned/rented/thai, vietnam or Europe plated bikes.
Bs. Vietnam has a limit in cc. The problem are not the european papers but usuarly those bikes are bigger then 300cc.

Ah man, it doesnt stop does it .. and the 'facts' twist and change every time .. SB is correct. I just hope people stumbling on this archive of information don't rule out doing something because of a posters bad information.

One thing, totally unconnected but was mentioned earlier in a round about way, but a FYI for the guys riding small bikes. It seems Laos is stopping bikes under 150cc from entering ( sometimes it seems uncertain to wether or not they will permit ), for sure Thai reg'd scooters, maybe foreign bikes too.

Did you run your bike through VN snakeboy ? - you have a GSA right ?

This is just not true. Not with rented 125er and not without lots of paperwork and money for bigger bikes as shown before. Easyest and cheapest is just to rent different bikes in each country and biggest waste of money is to ship your own bike around the globe into a country were there are no spare parts for it. Its so easy!

Yes i hope so too otherwise i would not care and would not allways correct wrong information here!

This is such a difficult issue. In their own way - based on their own personal experiences - probably all contributors posting on this thread are correct.

It is definitely not easy or straightforward getting vehicles in and out of Vietnam, not helped by inconsistent Hanoi officialdom and red tape on the various crossings along VN's borders with Laos and Cambodia.

It has been done though. I did it in April 2013, riding a New Zealand registered 650cc bike (2-up). I'm a Brit btw, so was my pillion.

And we weren't the first to ride into VN that year. A handful of other foreign overland bikers got through before me - all on big displacement bikes; plus

One other American touring couple on a US-registered BMW 800GS successfully crossed the frontier into VN a few days following our return back into Laos. We all had a group hug .. awww shucks! .. before they set off. The four of us just happened to be staying in the same hotel in Thakhèk (alongside the Mekong R.)

There's a lengthy earlier HUBB thread, amongst others, all about this vexed issue: HERE

Best of luck with it all.

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Right Way Round ...

Yeas you were one of the lucky b******* who got into and could ride around in Vietnam on a big foreign plated bike. How long was that window open again? Just 2-3-4 months or so? Anyhow - great for you guys. I must say I envy you a tiny little bit there. Would have loved to ride into and around in Vietnam. Maybe another time...

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

No - obviously it doesnt stop as we can see. I just hope The HUBB ont let the misinformation be standing too long as new members might be mislead.
But I am going to stop now. To fight fools seems useless...

You are right that Laos seem to stop smaller bikes from entering from the Thai side. But I wonder if that is only for thais? I met a dutch guy on a thai plated Honda Wave in northern Laos somewhere. If I remember right this guy lived in Thailand. So obviously it can be done.

No I didnt go to Vietnam. As you know big foreign bikes arent allowed in there without being on a organised kinda tour. I ride a Tenere660 for the moment.

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

Ahhh now even you got it. Great :-)

Most of the time yes but sometimes even they learn something so it was worth correcting you so many times.
Happy new year :-)

Its still a good idea to read and quote the whole period and not just the part if that suits your paranoid mind.

I do think that there is a kind of restriction of what thai plated bikes with thai owners and riders that is allowed over from Thailand to Laos and vice versa. I guess Thai government doesnt want heaps of laotians on their bikes riding in Thailand and Laos government doesnt want heaps of thais on motorbikes in their country. Or whatever reason and regulations they have.

But as for foreigners on thai plated bikes to enter Thailand there havent been any such problems. Sometimes the thais are reluctant to let persons cross the socalled "Friendship bridges" border crossings, sometimes they want money for an "escort" over the bridge etc etc. After all this is Asia and every rule, laws and regulations can be bend and quite often seem to be very strongly connected to the mood of the official one happen to meet.

But I have been in Laos on a thai plated bike in 2013, a 750 ccm. Lonerider was there in january 2015 on a 250 ccm, I met a dutch guy in Laos in january/february 2015 on a 100-125 ccm, a norwegian friend of mine rode through Laos on a 500 ccm thai plated bike in november 2014, recom273 has been in Laos on a thai plated bike (he lives in Thailand). And belive it or not - we are not the exceptions! We are the common guys and travellers.

And in addition to this I can add that I on my 2015 trip through Laos and Cambodia with my european plated bike I made the following observations:
There were heaps of vietnam plated bikes in Laos ridden by backpacker type of westerner travellers. I also saw a few of vietnam plated bikes in Cambodia ridden by western travellers. And I also saw cambodia plated bikes ridden by cambodians in southern Laos, not many though.

I strongly recommend persons that are thinking about riding motorbikes in Thailsnd/Laos/Cambodia/Vietnam to search information other places such as for example Rideasia.net and GTriders.com. The (mis)information presented by some member here is simply not correct.

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....